I am beginning to have extreme problems with house sparrows. They have taken over the entire yard, and are becoming increasingly aggressive. All my feeders, with the exception of the jay's peanuts, are now their province, they think. All my feeders are hanging, and they now are even running the siskins off the thistle feeder. The last straw was watching one fly up and try to intercept one of the hummingbirds as it approached the hummingbird feeder. Does anyone have any solution at all that would keep them on the ground? I feed them well, but they do have to look through the grass and other seed shells to find whatever they want. I tried putting up a feeder just for them, like I do with the Starlings, but they just shoveled all the seed out and went on to the hanging feeders, almost totally disregarding the seed they had just thrown out of "their" feeder.

At this point I am at my wits end, and I am beginning to think my only solution is to cut down, or at least drastically thin out my quince bush. I hate to do this, as the bush is over fifteen feet across and about ten feet tall now. When I thinned out the clematis, which was their main habitat, they just moved over to the quince. There are no other shrubs around, so I am worried that they may try to take over the English Laurels if I do take out the quince.

Needless to say, I really don't want to take out the quince, or to even to thin it drastically for the obvious reason that it does bring in desirable birds, such as a White-throated Sparrow last January. However, the cost to my feeders and their intended birds is becoming extremely depressing. So far my white crowns and purple finches are no longer coming to the feeders because of these house sparrows, and I have to do something soon.

Any good ideas? I'm totally out. Except to say that I took out the water source for them, which they had taken over anyway. They used to live next door in my neighbor's ivy. I just want them to return there, or wherever.

J.V. Bonham
Centralia, WA
jvbonham at msn.com